MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We have a look back this morning at the legacy of former FBI Director Robert Mueller. He died on Friday at the age of 81. Mueller was the longest serving FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover. But the law enforcement veteran may be better known for another role. He ran the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has more.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Robert Mueller ran toward tough assignments. Following the lead of a classmate at Princeton, Mueller enrolled in the Marines and served in the Vietnam War. He earned the Bronze Star for rescuing a fellow Marine. Mueller said he felt compelled to serve during that conflict, an idea he returned to throughout his life. Law Professor Rory Little knew Mueller for years.
RORY LITTLE: Bob was kind of a straight arrow, you know, wounded in Vietnam. And you keep wanting to hunt for, where is the crack in that facade? You know, where's the real Bob Mueller? And after a while, you begin to realize - you know what? - that's the real Bob Mueller. He is exactly who he appears to be.
JOHNSON: With his closest friends, Mueller let down his guard. They teased him, saying Mueller would've made an excellent drill instructor on Parris Island. Instead, Mueller went to law school and joined the Justice Department. There he prosecuted crimes big and small for U.S. attorneys in San Francisco and Boston. Eventually, he left government work. But the lure of public service was too strong.
Mueller quit his lucrative job and returned to prosecute homicides in Washington, D.C. Then in 2001, President George W. Bush nominated him to serve as director of the FBI. The bureau had been reeling from a series of insider threats. It was an issue at his confirmation hearing. Here he is at that hearing joking with Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROBERT MUELLER: This may be my training from the Marine Corps, but you don't ask people to do that which you're unwilling to do yourself. I have already taken that polygraph.
ORRIN HATCH: The only reason I asked that question is because I knew you had. And I just think it's important...
MUELLER: (Laughter).
HATCH: It's important for people to...
PATRICK LEAHY: How'd you do?
HATCH: Yeah, how did you do?
(LAUGHTER)
MUELLER: I'm sitting here. That's all I can say.
HATCH: I'm sorry...
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNSON: Mueller was sworn in to lead the FBI. One week later, disaster struck. The FBI Mueller had expected to run changed in a single morning. It was September 11, 2001. Attorney General John Ashcroft took the lead.
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JOHN ASHCROFT: Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a list of 19 individuals who have been identified as hijackers aboard the four airliners that crashed on Tuesday.
JOHNSON: Mueller told reporters the FBI was sifting through 36,000 leads in the investigation, known as PENTTBOM.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MUELLER: We, all of us in the FBI, pledge to those directly affected by these attacks that we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to help find those responsible and to bring those individuals to justice.
JOHNSON: He shifted the bureau's attention to fighting terrorism. He staffed up headquarters in Washington. He pushed those agents to try to predict crimes and act before another tragedy hit. His FBI deputy, John Pistole, explained.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN PISTOLE: He directed and implemented what is arguably the most significant change in the FBI's 105-year history.
JOHNSON: Along the way, Mueller drew some criticism when his agents overreached. During the investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks, the bureau focused on the wrong man as its lead suspect. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, received one of those anthrax letters.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LEAHY: I might note, at least two people who touched the envelope that I was supposed to open died. I am not satisfied with this investigation. I'm not satisfied with the briefings I've had. I'm not satisfied with the information I've received on it.
JOHNSON: The FBI also got in trouble for demanding sensitive information in national security cases without respecting some legal limits. Mueller shouldered the blame.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MUELLER: I am responsible for those shortcomings. And I am also responsible for taking the steps to ensure that they do not happen again.
JOHNSON: By the time his 10-year term as FBI director expired, President Bush was gone and President Barack Obama was in charge. Obama asked Mueller to stay another two years. In 2013, after a dozen years at the FBI, Mueller left the bureau. But four years later, he returned to the national stage. The catalyst was President Donald Trump's decision to fire Mueller's FBI successor, Jim Comey.
Democrats suspected Trump was trying to obstruct the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Justice Department enlisted Mueller for that tricky assignment. Trump called the investigation a witch hunt. Republicans in Congress started to attack the investigators. Republican lawmaker Steve Chabot pointed out several lawyers on the Mueller team had donated to Democratic candidates.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
STEVE CHABOT: How, with a straight face, can you say that this group of Democrat partisans are unbiased and will give President Trump a fair shake?
JOHNSON: In the end, the team was able to complete its investigation. They charged 37 people and entities, including former campaign Chair Paul Manafort, national security adviser Michael Flynn and 25 Russians. Trump went on to grant clemency to some of those people. The Justice Department later walked away from many of the cases. When Mueller delivered his long report, he said it spoke for itself. But Democrats wanted more and insisted he testify.
A reluctant witness, Mueller once again fulfilled his duty. He was visibly older, a bit hard of hearing and mostly refused to take the bait from politicians. Mueller said he didn't make a judgment about whether Trump obstructed justice but said he couldn't exonerate the president either. There was enough damaging information for a group supporting impeachment to cut this ad featuring questions from Democrats and Mueller's terse replies.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED LAWMAKER #1: And what about total exoneration? Did you actually totally exonerate the president?
MUELLER: No.
UNIDENTIFIED LAWMAKER #2: Isn't it fair to say that the president's written answers showed that he wasn't always being truthful?
MUELLER: Generally.
UNIDENTIFIED LAWMAKER #3: You believe that you could charge the president United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?
MUELLER: Yes.
JOHNSON: As Mueller left the Capitol building after an exhausting day he had tried to avoid, a man approached the former Marine. Semper fi, the man said. Semper fi, Mueller replied. Carrie Johnson, NPR News.
MARTIN: On Truth Social this weekend, President Trump said, and I quote, "good, I'm glad he's dead."
(SOUNDBITE OF ALABASTER DEPLUME'S "VISIT CROATIA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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